FOXBOROUGH, mass. — The Broncos were as feeble in Foxborough as the British were puny in Concord.

In the third quarter, with the Patriots confronting third-and-17 on their 43, Peyton Manning got up from the bench to warm up. Seconds later, the Broncos quarterback sat down because he was let down. On an ordinary running play by smurf Danny Woodhead, the Patriots gained 19 yards, and soon afterward took a 24-7 lead.

Manning didn’t get an opportunity then.

He actually had no chance Sunday afternoon.

It’s difficult for Manning to come to a duel with Tom Brady without a sword.

If the defense wasn’t allowing the Patriots a franchise record 35 first downs — and being torched for first downs on 11-of-17 third downs — and wasn’t so indolent on hurry-up plays by the Patriots, and if Demaryius Thomas and Willis McGahee weren’t fumbling in critical circumstances, and McGahee hadn’t dropped a ridiculously simple toss on fourth down, and if the coaching staff wasn’t making inane calls on offense and defense, and if the head coach hadn’t committed the grave errors of not going for a two-point conversion and not challenging a Patriots fumble, Manning actually might have pulled off an astonishing comeback.

As it turned out, though, Manning had no more success against the Patriots than Tim Tebow did last year, and Manning might be wondering why he chose to finish a distinguished career with the Broncos.

“We’ve got to win the big one to prove to everybody we are contenders,” Broncos safety Mike Adams said. “These are teams that we are supposed to beat in order to go to the next level. The three teams we’ve lost to are, arguably, all playoff teams.”

The Broncos are dubiously a playoff team.

Start with those third downs. Remember how they rarely could stop Ben Roethlisberger on third downs? This was even worse.

Toward the end of the Patriots’ second possession, Brady threw to Brandon Lloyd — his name sounds familiar — on third-and-8 to set up a touchdown from the Broncos’ 8. On the next possession, the Patriots converted a third-and-10 and a third-and-3 and would score another touchdown. In the third quarter the Patriots made good on third-and-4, third-and-7, third-and-17, a third-and-1 and another third-and-goal for a touchdown.

On the third-and-real-long, the Broncos, according to Brady, “had a light personnel grouping, so I handed off to Woody (Woodhead), and he found the crease. It ended up being a touchdown drive, and really propelled us there in the third quarter.”’’

Even more repulsive for the Broncos was their slow reaction before several of those plays. Brady caught them casually lining up and completely out of position when the ball was snapped.

And what was with middle linebacker Joe Mays being spread nearly to the sideline defending receivers? New defensive coordinator Jack Del Rio couldn’t sleep comfortably after that mess of an effort.

Neither could head coach John Fox. He will consider this criticism unjust, but when Peyton finally got the Broncos moving, and they scored to make it 31-13 just before the end of the third quarter, they had to consider going for two — which would have made it a possible two-possession game. Fox didn’t blink. And, as the game wound down, the Broncos had another touchdown and were threatening again when McGahee fumbled. It could have been 31-31 at that juncture if they made the first conversion, and if McGahee hadn’t fumbled.

Fox also failed to throw the red flag on a possible Patriots fumbled pass. At least he could have called timeout to contemplate it.

For the second consecutive Sunday, Thomas fumbled away a ball after a long completion from Manning. And, early in the fourth quarter, on fourth-and-1 at the New England 47, McGahee couldn’t catch the ball.

Offensive coordinator Mike McCoy was sending in plays that wouldn’t fool anybody from here to Cape Cod. Lance Ball on his first carry of the game in the third quarter on third-and-4 for 1 yard?

Manning fumbled on a sack, after his offensive line collapsed like a Popsicle-stick house.

The question before the game was: How do the Broncos beat the Patriots once when they couldn’t do it twice last season? Well, the answer after the game is: Don’t fumble; don’t drop passes; don’t give up 19-yard running plays on third-and-17; don’t react to the hurry-up unhurriedly — and there’s a chance to win with Manning.

At the start of the Revolutionary War, the British arrived at Concord unprepared and outmaneuvered, and were run out of town. The Broncos understand.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Tyreek Hill didn’t know what to do when he started hearing thousands of people in Arrowhead Stadium chanting his name, even as he stood all alone on the frozen turf waiting for the punt.